5 STEM tools you can use for any subject

Squeeze-Bottle Straw Rockets - The LabIt’s easy to turn a juice bottle into a rocket launcher. How? Grab a few straws, some modeling clay, and an empty juice bottle to make a launcher that will send the straw rocket soaring across the room. Okay, you’ll learn something about Newton’s Laws of Motion at the same time.University of Florida NewsAfter a decade of battling the highly destructive citrus greening bacterium, researchers with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have developed genetically modified citrus trees that show enhanced resistance to greening, and have the potential to resist canker and black spot, as well. However, the commercial availability of those trees is still several years away. Jude Grosser, a professor of plant cell genetics at UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Citrus Research and Education Center, and Manjul Dutt, a research assistant scientist at the CREC, used a gene isolated from the Arabidopsis plant, a member of the mustard family, to create the new trees. Their experiment resulted in trees that exhibited enhanced resistance to greening, reduced disease severity and even several trees that remained disease-free after 36 months of planting in a field with a high number of diseased trees. Citrus greening was first detected in Florida in 2005.

Here Is A Great Website for STEM Teachers and StudentsMay 1, 2016 NOVA, one of the popular American TV series that produces in-depth science programming in the form of documentaries and short videos, has this excellent resource called NOVA Education. This is a free portal designed specifically to cater to the teaching and learning needs of STEM teachers and students. It provides a wide variety of educational materials that include informative short-form videos explaining different scientific phenomena, lesson plans to appropriate for your own teaching situation, interactive and several other resources all aligned to teaching standards. You can use the site’s search box to quickly locate a video or browse through the content of NOVA Education by topic.

40 Cool Science Experiments on the WebPerhaps you don't have enough class periods to do every science experiment you wish you could, or maybe your budget for beakers and baking soda is all tapped out. Maybe you just want to watch and see how it's done before you try to build a volcano with 24 fourth-graders. Whatever the reason, having students watch a science demonstration close up on the Web is the next best thing! Read on to discover 40 favorites for K-8 students chosen by the great people at the X-Ray Vision-aries blog.Science Fair Project Display BoardsPlease ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. If you leave JavaScript disabled, you will only access a portion of the content we are providing. <a href="/science-fair-projects/javascript_help.php">Here's how.

Can Parasitic Wasps Help Save America's Citrus?In a lemon grove in Riverside, California, a half dozen beige mesh tents rise above the fruit trees. Within each tent a solitary lemon tree bustles with invaders from another continent: small insects called Asian citrus psyllids. They're potential carriers of a plague that could decimate California's citrus groves. But scientists here are deliberately breeding them—in order to breed an antidote. "Warning," read signs posted on the tents in English and Spanish. "Wasps inside."

6 Essential Science Tools that Use Technology in the ClassroomI am a Science teacher and a techie. With this admission comes the fact that I love to find novel ways to incorporate technology in the classroom into my lessons. My students have learned that whenever I find a new tool, I'll bring it in and together we'll brainstorm ways to use it to help us be more effective and engaged scientists.Science definition - What is science?Science Definition The word science comes from the Latin "scientia," meaning knowledge. How do we define science? According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is "knowledge attained through study or practice," or "knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method [and] concerned with the physical world." What does that really mean? Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge.